


Say My Name

by 10moonymhrivertam



Series: The Once and Future...Spy?! [7]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur isn't really in this one despite me tagging arthur/merlin, Conversations, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Post-Coital, Post-Coital Cuddling, it's m because it's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 16:04:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13685064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10moonymhrivertam/pseuds/10moonymhrivertam
Summary: “You fooled MI6 into taking you on with a fake name?” There was an impressed smirk in his voice, and it made Q relax a little.





	Say My Name

The room was dark...and surprisingly quiet, save for some ragged breathing. Green eyes - eyes that should have been blue - were fixed on the ceiling. Q went stiff as Bond turned onto his side and shuffled closer.

“This isn’t how I would’ve expected you to be post-coital.” The breath on his ear made him shiver.

“Me neither,” Q admitted. He paused, but then turned on his side to face Bond, to stare into blue eyes that were burdened by almost as much as  _ those _ had been.

“So what’s wrong?” He hesitated. “Tell me, Arthur.”

Q recoiled. He turned over and sat up, shivering, feeling the heat of the wary glare on his back. “Where did you get that name?”

“The paper files,” Bond said without shame.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a lie.” A pause, and then he could hear and feel Bond shuffling closer, and he went tense again.

“You fooled  _ MI6 _ into taking you on with a fake name?” There was an impressed smirk in his voice, and it made Q relax a little.

“If I weren’t...who I’ve claimed to be. Would that be betrayal to you?”

Q could almost feel Bond’s mind go to Vesper. From the pictures in the file, he imagined watching Vesper drown had been much like watching Morgana gasp around a mouthful of hemlock. It had probably even felt the same: hating yourself most, with a kernel of bitterness aimed at them growing at the center of the self-hatred. “How do you mean?”

“My name isn’t Arthur Penn. When I was  _ really _ in my twenties, I was a servant. I know there are rumors that I was a black hat turned white hat, but it’s all bollocks. I was just...good at programming. Freelancing, but not in a particularly good or particularly bad way. And Boothroyd needed help at the time. Q’s a truth. But Arthur Penn isn’t.”

“...What should I be calling you, then? If I’m going to be intimate, I’d like to do it right.” It was strange. Q was fairly certain that Bond didn’t trust him just now after that, not fully, and yet...it was the agent’s full charm, tempered with a softness Q never witnessed on honey pot missions - the same softness he’d been showing Q before taking him to bed.

“Merlin. That’s what I was born. Just Merlin.”

“No last name?”

“No.” Please don’t let him press, Q pleaded silently. He didn’t want to lie right now, and saying last names weren’t common where he came from would force him into doing something like admitting his real age, and explaining how he’d lived that long, and...well. Bond had been quite clear before. There was no such thing as magic.

“Merlin.” Q shivered, a tension falling away from his shoulders. Bond kissed between his shoulder blades, and Q turned to catch his lips in another kiss, soft and tender.

“James,” he breathed in return. He’d expected it to feel wrong - but Bond wasn’t quite Arthur, for all that he was a blonde prat skilled in combat. And Q loves him as much as Merlin - loved? Still loves? - Arthur. “James.”


End file.
